


Dark Meet Light

by Superbarryallen



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, But uses no other Percy Jackson Lore, Butch!Kara, F/F, Fluff, Quests, Uses Camp Half Blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-07 16:58:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14085456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superbarryallen/pseuds/Superbarryallen
Summary: It all starts when Lena decides to follow a mysterious rottweiler across the country who turns out to be the loyal servant of her father. Then chaos ensues and Lena is tossed into a world of fighting monsters, dodging death, training in what it means to be a demigod in 2018 and trying her best to not fall for her handsome blonde companion on her quest to save the world. Who knew following a dog could bring so much trouble?The Greek Mythology AU no one asked for except two people on my Tumblr.





	1. I Follow a Dog to my Doom

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me after I decided to reread the Percy Jackson series which I had enjoyed as a kid and at 18 it still brings me joy - plus I'm an ancient history nerd so writing this was like Christmas to me. For a long time I stopped writing but now I've returned with this, and I really hope you guys have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. It does use some of Percy Jackson lore such as Camp Half-Blood but nothing else so you don't need to know anything about that. Anyway, I'm keeping you.

Lena was running. She had been running for at least three days now from... something. It might sound crazy, even she knows that, but whenever she tried to get a look at the thing that was chasing her, which was whenever it caught up to her, it was just a haze of darkness shrouded in mist and she was always quick to begin running once again. She was running on fumes, she had had about five hours of sleep spread across 3 days unevenly. 

Now you might ask why was she running when she didn’t even know what was following her? Well, that’s complicated too. 

She knew this would sound insane to anyone and if she wasn’t busy running or being exhausted she’d even feel a little embarrassed about it. She had been at college and heading to her class of Theoretical Physics when she’d suddenly stopped and saw a rottweiler looking directly at her. The thing was big, almost certainly bigger than a normal rottweiler, and he had a chain, an actual chain, wrapped loosely around his neck, his chest was as ripped as a bodybuilder (she’s not kidding, she wasn’t sure if dogs could work out but this one looked like he drank protein shakes and spent 3 hours in the gym every day) but what really caught Lena’s attention was his eyes. They were blood red, almost glowing and swirled with a hint of black, he barked at Lena and it was a deep and demanding bark, a ‘follow me!’ bark. 

Now don’t get her wrong, she’s exceptionally smart, but there was this feeling in Lena’s gut that she should follow the animal, that he didn’t have a disease, or was going to harm her, but was rather there to help her, plus she’d had the feeling of being watched for the past week since she’d arrived at college - not just because of the Luthor thing either. So yeah, she followed the dog, sue her! But if there’s anything Lena’s learnt, it’s that she should trust her own instincts. 

The feeling of being watched seemed to intensify after that, she followed the dog with no qualms, they’d become close companions, she’d even cuddled with him on a particularly cold night, and the dog seemed to find her smell calming for some reason. Whatever. So Lena got along with a stray dog, and followed it away from college, which her mother had paid for, and... okay it sounds crazy when she thinks of it like that. 

But now she was running through the woods and she had this tingly feeling like whatever had been watching her these past few weeks was right on her tail, even her dog, who she’d named Buddy, was running with urgency now, diving below fallen branches, taking impossibly sharp turns, it might have been Lena’s eyes but she could’ve sworn he was getting bigger, his tail seemed longer and his back hunched like his shoulder blades had grown tenfold. 

The weather didn’t help in her trying to follow the animal, it was raining so hard that the surrounding ground was loose and almost certainly going to cause her to slip if she wasn’t careful, and she had to often wipe her face so she could see - it was raining that hard. It didn’t help either that it was night which double obstructed her vision and Buddy was black - she could barely see him! 

WHACK! 

Lena had been so concentrated on following the dog that she’d ran straight into a tree branch, she fell right square on her back and let out a gasp of air as all the air was sucked from her lungs. A couple of gasps later she’d recovered her breathing and brought her slender fingers up to her forehead where she could feel warm wetness. She was bleeding, probably had a gash off the tree branch that was looking down at her, she could’ve sworn the thing was smug that it had managed to hit her right on. 

“Ow.” Lena moans painfully. She allowed herself to feel a little sorry for herself. She’d spent the last three days chasing some dog around the country and she had been taken out by a tree branch. It wasn’t Lena’s finest moment. It doesn’t last long. 

A roar rips through the silence of the woods, Lena feels the ground - the ground - shift from the rumbling growl of the beast. Lena feels adrenaline flush her entire system, she’s sitting up before even realising she had moved and on her feet just as quickly, her sleepless nights melted away as her body flooded with the adrenaline. She was more awake now, even sleep deprived, than she had been on a full night’s rest, like a shot of espresso right into the bloodstream. 

Lena whirls, she examines the surrounding woods, it was dark, she could barely make out her hand in front of her face before, but now everything seemed sharper, she could make out the shine on the leaves from the rainfall, and she could've sworn she could make out every individual drop of rain that dropped onto the foliage surrounding her, and that was along with the sound of her heart hammering in her chest. She felt tense, like every muscle of her body was on alert, ready to… act. 

Ahead of her, Lena squints at the dark mist, at first she thought it was just some strange patch of fog off the weather but the mist was evaporating, kind of like dry ice meeting water, it rolled off of a large black figure, stepping out of it like some movie of revelation. Lena was frozen at its sight, it steps forward into a patch of light from the moon that had found its way through the canopy of the above trees, and Lena felt every nerve ending burn, scream, telling her to run. 

What she saw made no sense, the creature was just short of the tree top, it was smiling crookedly its teeth, impossibly sharp, and a dark yellow (it could use some dental work) it was topless, with only what Lena would describe as a wooly speedo covering its private parts - which she was certainly glad for - but what really struck her was that the creature had one single eye right in the centre of its forehead, staring down at her with a look of hunger. In the moonlight he looked downright ghastly and white with a small hint of green tinging his monstrous skin. Cyclops?!?!

“Holy shh-” Lena doesn’t finish that sentence because the monster steps towards her and she knows she can do nothing but run - she is defenseless after all. 

She sprints the way she last saw Buddy running, leaping over loose branches, ducking, skidding, she’d never been an athletic person but suddenly she was pulling off some olympic level acrobats. The cyclops wasn’t too fond of its dinner escaping it and roared in anger shaking Lean’s entire skelton and rattling her teeth, she could feel the beast beginning to run, the tremble of the ground almost threw her off, but her body just seamlessly adjusted, you’d almost suspect she was used to running for her life, she wasn’t, not in this sense anyway. 

There appeared to be a clearing ahead, and some sort of orange light, and something in her head was telling her she needed to get there. She picks up her pace, Lena wasn’t even sure how, she’d never pushed herself to these limits before, never knew she could, but here she was. She glances behind her to see how close the beast was and her eyes widen when she sees it holding a boulder above its head, its one eye focused dead on her. 

Lena skids to a stop, almost falls on the slickness of the grass, then dives for cover to her right, just in time, she hears a whoosh and then, where she had been stood, a crater the size of a taxi and as deep as a shallow pool, the boulder embedded at the bottom remained. She could’ve been crushed under that. Lena scrambles to her feet, she could feel warm liquid running down her arm from her elbow, she must have scratched it on something when she jumped into the foliage, her adrenaline rush was probably preventing her from feeling it however. 

The beast lets out a roar of anger of missing his target and the smell of Lena’s blood was probably not helping her to shake the monster. “Help!” Lena yells taking off again. She makes the few feet to the clearing quickly and relatively easily but her fatigue was starting to sink in, her adrenaline was being burnt off. She whirls around in the direction of the monster and is disappointed to find out she hadn’t imagined it. It was advancing on her and Lena was in the middle of the woods with no hope of an escape from her assailant. No, she had to face it, there was no other way, but she had no weapon… she really wished Buddy was still here. Though, she confesses, she’s not sure how much help a rottweiler would be in this kind of situation. 

She faces the ten foot something beast head on and it stops just shy of the clearing. She was surprised to see that the monster appeared uneasy all of a sudden, like he wasn’t sure Lena would taste good. It doesn’t take long before it does decide that Lena is worth the trouble and steps towards her. 

That’s when Lena sees two young girls emmerge to the right of her looking a little dishevelled but looking just as alert as Lena felt in, their hands, the girl with the short brown hair held a dagger and the girl next to her, another brunette, held a slightly longer blade, the length of an arm, both weapons gleaned a golden brown colour and lit their faces ever so slightly in the dark. They look at Lena for a second before realizing they had company and god was Lena glad they had shown up. 

The short haired brunette draws another dagger from her back after examining the monster, probably thinking she’d need more than a single dagger to take the beast down. The pair seem to have a silent conversation that lasts seconds and then they’re attacking. All Lena can do is watch and, admittedly, be impressed. 

The pair worked so fluently together Lena found herself wondering if they shared one mind - it certainly wouldn’t be a stretch from cyclops. Lena was enthralled, they immediately took on the cyclops, the long haired brunette attacked one leg and the short haired took the other, playing a game of dodging the meaty hands of the beast and slashing it with their swords. The monster’s blood wasn’t what Lena expected, it wasn’t the rich satin of human blood but darker, almost black, it stained the blades of the women warriors but they didn’t seem all too bothered about it. 

“Sam!” The short haired brunette yells but she’s too late and with one small sweep the cyclops sends the long haired brunette, Sam, flying. She hits a tree with a crack, though if that’s the bark of the tree, or one of the girl’s bones, Lena’s not sure and she’s not certain one is better than the other. 

The short haired brunette runs towards Lena, her eyes catch Lena’s attention, they were burning with such intensity, they were sharp and seemed to be calculating something, Lena was pretty sure she’d been forgotten, even with the girl’s eyes fixed directly on her. The girl spins around, at the same time she extends her right hand out to the side and in one smooth motion Lena watches as she releases the blade. It cuts through the air, spinning at least five times, before it finds its mark right into the shoulder of the cyclops. 

It knocks it back slightly and it lets out a pained roar, wrapping its hand around the hilt of the blade, Lena worried it was going to pull it out of its shoulder and throw it right back at them but it doesn’t, it stares at it, and whimpers, before looking back at them, its eye practically glowing with rage. It lets out its biggest and deepest roar that rebounds throughout the woods, shaking their surroundings, but the girl who had thrown the dagger was gone, she was crouching in front of the other girl, Sam, holding her face between her two hands. Lena swallows and averts her eyes back to the monster feeling, suddenly, like she had intruded onto a private moment. 

 

“Cyclops! I hate cyclops!” The girl yells. Lena understood.

Lena takes a couple of steps forward. She was sick of feeling completely and utterly useless, plus maybe she could distract the beast from the couple of warriors long enough for the other to help the injured girl. Lena notices Sam’s dropped sword beside the foot of the monster - she must have dropped it when she was sent flying. Lena rolls to it, dodging the fist of the beast and picks the sword up, coming to her feet armed and feeling pretty good about herself. “How did I do that?” The hilt of the blade was hot in Lena’s hand, almost unbearably so, but she had to have some sort of weapon. 

“Wait!” Lena looks to her right to see the girl, Sam, yelling at her but the cyclops goes to grab Lena again and she moves just in time to avoid its grasp slashing its hand. 

As soon as she hits the cyclops the heat of the blade becomes unbearable, she feels her skin bubble and stick she instantly drops it, crying out in pain, she’s distracted long enough that the beast plucks her off of the ground into his meaty fist. Lena struggles, kicking her legs uselessly and hits him on the pale slimy skin of his hand but he just lets out a low rumble, like a laugh. Her hand hurt like a son of a bitch but she had bigger problems. 

The monster pulls her right close to his face, grinning evilly, and Lena knew at any moment he’d pop her into his mouth like she was a jaffa cake or something. But seeing the monster’s one eye blink at her, granted, gleaming with its evil intentions, she had an idea. Lena had read The Odyssey while studying and she remembered what Odysseus had done to the cyclops Polyphemus: he’d stuck a hot stick into the monster’s eye. Lena no longer had a blade but something else came to her mind. 

She started rooting around her ruined hair, her ponytail was barely holding on anymore, but she finds what she’s looking for: a bobby pin. She leans forward, urging the monster to bring her closer, and he does, taking a sniff of Lena he lets out a satisfied growl, he even started drooling, but Lena tried not to look at that, she could hear the two warriors on the ground stirring but this was the opportunity Lena needed. 

She leans forward, and with all the strength she had left, she drives the bobby pin into his single eye. It opens at the last minute, before Lena lands her mark, and she can see the utter shock in it. 

The monster howls and instantly drops Lena. Everything seems to slow down, Lena was free falling, the monster was holding his eye, screaming in pain, stumbling backwards, and then, Lena hits the ground. She lands awkwardly on her ankle, she definitely feels a crack and definitely feels it break, she doesn’t even want to look incase she sees the bone sticking out and she passes out. 

She hobbles back, she’d somehow hit her head in her landing too and felt a little dizzy, possibly even concussed, or maybe it was the pain of her broken ankle fogging her mind, or her previous head injury from the tree branch, except Lena was slow due to her ankle but the beast was quicker to recover. He swiped blindly and he would have gotten Lena but something stopped him. 

A black shape launched over the top of Lena, whacking right into the cyclops which went crashing backwards, the sound of trees being rooted from the ground and breaking under its weight could clearly be heard. Lena turned to see what had saved her from being a flattened pancake and what she saw was... incredible. The black creature was Buddy! Except he had gowen huge, he towered even over the cyclops and the trees, his shape was even more muscular, he really was pure muscle, his huge paws were placed on the chest of the cyclops, holding it down with what was probably a huge weight on his chest, but what really got Lena’s attention was the fact that Buddy no longer had one head but three. Two were snapping at the cyclops, viciously growling deeply with intent to maim the beast, while the other one, the one on the far left, was looking at Lena, its ears back, whimpering, as though he wished to make sure she was okay and his tail was... wagging. 

A three headed dog… a dog with three heads… that’s… it couldn’t be! 

Lena hears a gasp and snaps her head in that direction and sees the two warriors. “That’s-!” The short haired brunette goes to yell. 

“Alex! We have bigger problems!” Sam yells back. 

“But that’s-!” The short haired girl’s, Alex’s, amazement was interrupted when one of the three heads was pulled into a headlock by the monster, the middle one immediately snapped at the arm, coming to its friend’s aid, and the third turned away from Lena concentrating on the battle. 

Lena rises to her feet, she’d been knocked to the ground when the cyclops had made its last grab for her, and she lets out a curse of pain when her weight lands on her ankle. The two warriors were armed and came to aid the huge dog but they had to dive out of the way when the cyclops wrapped its arms wrapped around the body of the three headed dog. Lena feels a sliver of ice in her heart when Buddy begins whimpering, struggling in the monster’s iron grip. It was crushing him! Lena lets out a scream of horror and with her good foot she lifts it into the air, feeling a surge of power rush through her like an electric shock, Lena crashes her foot to the ground. 

A loud rumble breaks the sound of the battle, the cyclops lets go of Buddy at the sound and the dog backs up. Extending from Lena’s foot was a fracture in the ground, she could hear it cracking, splitting, deep below her, extending right to the feet of the monster, the three headed dog leaps out of the way when the ground starts breaking open, crumbling like the pastry of a pie, the ground splits open, collapsing in on itself, Lena felt alive, she couldn't feel a single one of her injuries, all she could feel was utter power. 

The cyclops panics, it tries to run at Lena but he’s not fast enough and falls into the hole, hanging onto the edge, before it breaks off. The ground literally swallows the monster up. The last thing Lena hears, is the sound of the monster’s scream before the ground sealed itself back up as though Lena hadn’t just created a fissure with her foot. 

As soon as silence returns to the woods, Lena crashes. The surge of power that she had felt had drained her completely, she was struggling to keep her eyes open, she wasn’t sure where Buddy was or if he was okay. She was already slipping into unconsciousness. 

“Alex!” That was a new voice, not the voice of the other person, Sam, who had come to her rescue with Alex. Lena blinks her eyes, she sees a flash of blonde before another wave of exhaustion forces her to close them again. 

“Did that really just happen?” That was Alex. “She’s a daughter of Hades. I’ve never.. I’ve never seen such power since... you.” That was still Alex, though who she was talking to Lena had no clue. Lena was drifting into unconsciousness but the last thing she remembers before slipping completely out of it is strong warm arms wrapping around her.

//

Lena was in an endless black void. She felt like she was floating in this void, just floating along without a care in the world, when a deep voice breaks her peace. “Find me.” The voice booms. “Lena.” Lena shakes from the sound of her name coming from the voice. She’s transported, no longer floating endlessly, she’s in a shiny black palace which is lit by bright blue flames. 

The room is clearly a throne room, highlighted by the fact that there was a throne directly in front of her, black but also made of skulls, which Lena couldn’t imagine was comfortable to sit on. It was empty. Next to it was a smaller throne, more modest looking, and less scary looking, especially since it looked somewhat like a flower, a golden black flower was next to the skull throne. 

The throne room was grand, beautiful, in a dark kind of way, that kind of resonated with Lena. The floors were made of bronze, a blood red carpet ran up to the thrones and across from them was a fireplace that roared with the same blue fire that the torches around the room were burning with. 

Lena could hear the faint soft sound of crying - a woman, unmistakingly. When Lena looked back at the thrones the smaller one was now occupied by a woman. Her head was in her hands, her sobs wracked her body, she was wearing a purple robe that flowed right down to her ankles, even though Lena couldn't see her face she knew that the woman was beautiful, her skin was pale, almost to a sickly degree, but it was also somehow glowing and her black hair was stark against her pale skin. 

The woman stops sobbing momentarily and looks directly at Lena, her eyes were red and puffy but also an intense golden brown. She looked almost confused, as though she sensed Lena’s presence but was not certain, before she stood from the throne. 

And then she was gone, the throne room was plunged into darknesses, the fires quelled, and then Lena was surrounded by ghostly spirits. They filled the throne room endlessly, overrunning it, groaning and moaning, some grabbed at her arms, pleading for her to help them, others insisted of their innocence, or protested that they were dead. Lena was like a beacon for them. 

She pushes past them, feeling her heart rate pick up, she stumbles out of the thorne room, through the castle’s corridors, dodging the souls of the dead that cried out for her help. “When there is no room in hell, the dead will spill over onto earth,” There was that booming voice again, the one who had asked Lena to find it. “Find me, hero!”

//

Just as Lena burst out of the front doors of the castle she started awake, jolting upright in her bed with a gasp. She almost collides heads with a blonde who was perched on the side of her bed but lands just short. Lena was breathless, for more reasons other than just the fact that she’d had a horrible nightmare. She was face to face with an actual God, she was certain. 

The person in front of her had deep sky blue eyes, their skin was sun kissed tanned and the bright smile that spread across her face was almost as radiant as the sun. Her hair was shaved at the sides but on the top her hair was longer and messier, almost like they’d rolled out of bed and rolled with it, not that it didn’t work for them. “Hi.” If Lena hadn’t been sitting she for sure would have swooned at the husky tone of the person. 

Lena blinks a few times before regaining her wits and also drawing her eyes away from the toned arms of the stranger that were peeking out from under her orange t-shirt. “Where’s Buddy?” Lena asks suddenly. The blonde frowns in confusion, her brow furrowing, Lena would have found that cute if she had time to focus on it. 

She felt a sudden urgeness and went to stand up but the blonde firmly places her hand on her chest - Lena tries not to blush at that. “You mean Cerberus?” The blonde asks as if that was just a casual question to throw at Lena. 

Lena looks around, she was still in the clothes she had been wearing that night in the woods, though they were dirty and she felt like she needed seven showers to remove the layer of grime on her skin, they were torn and practically useless, in the chair beside her, she noticed a neatly folded orange shirt, like the one the blonde had on in front of her, and some jeans. Like Lena would be caught dead in that, she was much more comfortable in black. It looked as though she was in an infirmary of sorts, she could hear soft chatter of people, but it didn’t seem too densely populated, and there were a couple other people wearing scrubs. There were things that looked like fridges along the far wall and the rest was obstructed from Lena’s view thanks to the curtain drawn around her. 

“We gave you some ambrosia whenever you were awake,” The blonde says. “Its, uh, the food of the Gods, as demigods we can only eat so much, eat too much then you'll burn into a pile of ashes, mortals can’t eat it at all.” The blonde looks up from the clipboard she was holding, which Lena just noticed, and then she seems to get a look of mortification. “Oh Gods! I’m so bad at this, you must be so confused!” She seemed to be scolding herself rather than Lena. “My name is Kara, K-Kara Danvers, I’m a child of Apollo,” She sticks her hand out with a goofy smile that was kind of charming and Lena takes it. 

She almost yelps at the sudden warmth of the blonde’s hand compared to her cold skin - Lena was always cold. The blonde quickly withdraws it. “Sorry, I should have said something, as a child of Apollo I’m always warm and I have healing powers, I helped you heal when you were asleep, but the ambrosia and nectar are very effective so I wasn't needed personally that much.” The girl seemed almost flustered and pushes her glasses up her nose a little. “Anyway, all the stories you’ve heard of the Greek Gods? They’re all true. Zeus, Poseidon, all the monsters-” 

“Cyclops.” Lena mutters and Kara gives her a sympathetic look, like she understood what it was like to get attacked by a ten something foot monster. “This is insane,” Lena says, now ignoring Kara’s past attempt to settle her in her bed and standing. Kara jumps to her feet too and now Lena reads her shirt: ‘Camp Half-Blood’, daughter of Apollo… no way. 

“You’re a demigod,” Kara insists and Lena pushes the curtain open. Kara grabs it again and pulls it shut once again. “Actually, Alex says you split open the earth and dropped an entire cyclops through, and given that Cerberus was guiding you it… your father seems to be Hades.” Lena freezes at that. She remembers her dream, the dead grabbing at her, the throne room, the throne of skulls. Her dad… the God of the Underworld? Great. 

Lena pushes the curtain open again. “I have to get out of here, this- this has all just been a mistake.” Lena insists but the blonde pulls the curtain again halting Lena in her tracks. She glares at Kara but she seems unphased, in fact she looks stern - or stubborn. 

“You can’t leave camp,” The girl says and Lena’s almost surprised at how firm her voice is about that. “If you’re the daughter of Hades then you’re one of the Big Three, monsters are attracted heavily to your scent, it's amazing you’ve gone this long without an attack.” The blonde looked deep in thought and Lena didn’t really get it. “Get changed,” Kara says gesturing to the clothes on the chair. “Unless you’d rather rock the shredded look.” Lena looks down and decides she really probably should change. Kara steps out, drawing the curtain fully this time, and leaving Lena to her own thoughts. 

It was only then that she raised her ankle was no longer broken, in fact, it was as though she hadn’t even broken it in the first place, where she’d cut her head open, and on her arm, the wounds were both closed and there were no scars, even where she’d burnt her hand from the sword and felt her skin bubble: nothing, not a scratch. Lena thought about how much of a shame it was that mortals couldn’t use this ambrosia because it could lunch medicine centuries into the future, God knows what it could do. Lena changes her clothes, tossing aside her ruined clothing, she hated the bright orange t-shirt because it washed her out and she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb but it was better than going around in tattered clothing. 

Once changed, Lena opens the curtains and sees the blonde, Kara, chatting with Lena’s brunette saviours. Lena walks up to them, catching the tail end of what Alex was saying. “... Cerberus was with her. Cerberus! He’s supposed to be in the Underworld and fiercely loyal to you know who, what the hell is he doing up here away from his master?” Alex sounded both concerned and oddly intrigued, like some puzzle had been placed in front of her and she couldn't wait to solve it. Lena wondered who Alex’s godly parent was. 

Sam elbows Alex who glares at her in annoyance and rubs her ribs but she says nothing as she spots Lena’s approach. Kara turns and she smiles brightly again, Lena swears an essence of the sun is contained in that smile, hell, as a child of Apollo it technically was, it was almost infectious and that’s coming from Lena who hasn't smiled in, well, forever. 

Lena felt annoyed, irritable maybe, she had just fought a cyclops, the dog she’d followed here was actually Cerberus, the dog that guarded the Underworld - the Underworld! - and she was the daughter of the God of it. She had half the mind to think she’d gone actually insane. And her dream… it sent a chill down her spine. 

“Can someone explain what’s going on?” Lena asks. The three demigods exchange a look. 

“What do you want to know?” Alex asks. Lena narrows her eyes and crosses her arms across her chest, she’s almost certain Kara smirks at the action, biting her lip slightly. Lena had learnt this move from her mother and her many business meetings which she’d held at home, Lena liked to call it her ‘boss pose’. What infuriated Lena was that Kara had given her the basics, which was pretty much all she needed to know, but she just felt… restless. 

“Can I leave?” The demigods exchange a look again. 

“I wouldn’t recommend that.” Sam answers the question this time. “Trust me, as one of the Big Three, that is not a good idea.” 

“Buddy, he was actually… Cerberus?” Lena asks. 

Alex takes this one, “That’s right, which is weird because he’d never leave the Underworld, I’ve never heard of him ever doing it, except with Heracles, but that was only because Hades allowed him to… if you’re a child of Hades, maybe he sent his faithful servant to protect you, you probably smell enough like Hades for him to trust you.” 

“Where is he?” Lena asks. She’d only known the dog for less than a week but she cared about him, a lot, plus daddy dearest would probably like his dog back unharmed. 

“He disappeared after you opened the ground, we didn’t look for him, Cerberus is usually hostile to anyone who isn’t Hades, besides, monsters can’t cross the threshold into camp.” Alex explains. Lena’s mind was swirling with information, it was all just a little… too much. 

“Hey,” Lena was surprised by the softness of Sam's voice. “how about Kara shows you around camp, you get a good meal and we sort this out some other time when you’re settled?” Sam suggests. Lena sighs, that did sounds like a good idea, plus spending time with the tanned, handsome, child of Apollo didn't sound too bad. Lena agrees. She just needed some time to adjust, to let all this information settle, and, for some reason, Kara seemed like the person to help, plus she was excited to see what a camp of demigods looked like.


	2. I'm a Ghost Whisperer?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Then Kara showed Lena the sword fighting arena where the children of Hermes were practicing, if you could call it that, they weren’t practicing sword fighting as much as they were trying to pickpocket one another without the other noticing. Kara stated that that was a Hermes cabin add on, whoever ended up with the wallet at the end of practice was considered the ultimate champion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I'm being honest this is more of a filler chapter. I had planned on posting sooner but I got distracted every time I sat down to read through the chapter. Anyway, here it is! I hope you enjoy!

Sam and Alex take their leave, Lena didn’t even have time to thank them for saving her life, or ask what they were doing in the woods, though Lena got the sense that that’s exactly what they wanted - to not be questioned. Lena was left in the company of Kara, not that she much minded that fact. Kara smiles warmly and Lena feels herself relax a little. 

 

She leads Lena outside the infirmary into the camp and Lena almost falls over her own feet at the beauty of the camp. It looked as though the afternoon was slipping into evening but the weather was a far cry from the rain that had pelted Lena yesterday, in fact, it almost seemed like they were in some bubble set apart from the climate of the rest of the world, Lena could see grey clouds all around the borders of the camp in the sky but inside their ‘bubble’ the weather was perfect. Lena was about to ask about it when Kara seemed to read her mind. “Storms and such pass over us, we need good weather to help train, you can’t sword train if it’s pouring down, or grow strawberries in the field with it flooded.” Kara points to something and Lena follows her finger and sure enough there was a field of growing wild strawberries. 

 

Lena looks down at her feet and notices they’re standing on a wooden deck of some sort of house, she examines it, the house was huge, and a baby blue colour with white trim, it kind of reminded Lena of what you’d think an old western house would look like back in the 1800’s, it was timber too, not brick. “Where are we now?” Lena asks. She had assumed the infirmary but the house seemed too big to be just for that one room she had been in. 

 

“We call this the big house, you can find the infirmary on the bottom floor, camp counselors of each cabin meet here too whenever there’s a meeting with the Camp Director and Activities Director, Mr D and J’onn,” Kara explains. “There’s an attic, though no one goes there unless they have to,” The blonde had a look of uneasiness at the mention of the attic and Lena suddenly never wanted to have to go there. “A second floor, the floor we just came from and a basement.” Lena nods at that information, though she still had questions. 

 

“Mr D?” She asks curiously and Kara fidgets with her glasses. 

 

“Dionysus,” Kara states, like she hadn't just stated that an actual  _ God  _ was probably inside somewhere. “Zeus got mad at him and his punishment was to look after us  _ ‘brats’ _ .” Lena got the feeling Kara was quoting that. “He’s a refined taste,” She adds as an afterthought before clearing her throat. 

 

Lena got the feeling that Kara was a little nervous, if that was from Lena, or potentially angering a God, Lena wasn’t sure but she did silently wonder if they did what the ancient Greeks did and hosted a Dionysia in honour of the God who was in charge of their care. The thought of a full scale production of Greek tragedy plays and comedies was exciting. Lena also wondered what Dionysis’ opinion was on those famous ancient Greek playwrights, who was his favourite? Personally, Lena liked The Medea. 

 

Kara took Lena on the full tour, from the big house Kara took them to the strawberry fields, explaining to Lena that with Dionysus around the plants grew like crazy, though it worked better with wine grapes, but he was restricted on growing those with his punishment and all, after that they moved on to the stables, the pegasi and horses seemed a little skittish around Lena, Lena figured that was understandable given the fact she was daughter of the God of the Underworld, next Kara showed Lena the lake, warning her that she should be careful around bodies of water, especially the sea, since that was the domain of Poseidon, he didn’t take kindly to the children of Hades being in his domain nor did Zeus which meant that Lena really shouldn’t fly (though apparently Poseidon didn’t mind that much). Lena had always thought that her fear of flying had been irrational and stupid, now she was glad she’d never tried it, lest she be struck down by the Lord of the Sky. Despite that, it didn't stop the lake  naiades from giving Lena a flirty wave and blowing her a kiss which Kara grumbled at. 

 

Next Kara led Lena to the large amphitheatre, noting along the way the weapons shed, the amphitheatre was huge, Lena had always found its design so interesting in her school studies, it was built in such a way that even if you were at the top of the seats in the audience, which had to be at least 100 feet from the stage, you could hear everything because the sound travelled in such an effective way due to its design shape. In the centre on the ground was an alter and a stage at the front. 

 

Then Kara showed Lena the sword fighting arena where the children of Hermes were practicing, if you could call it that, they weren’t practicing sword fighting as much as they were trying to pickpocket one another without the other noticing. Kara stated that that was a Hermes cabin add on, whoever ended up with the wallet at the end of practice was considered the ultimate champion. 

 

They move onto the archery field, which half a dozen Apollo kids were trying their hands at, Kara waved at her siblings, who seemed happy to see the blonde. Kara’s siblings all looked pretty similar to her: blonde haired, tanned, blue eyed, it gave Lena a good idea of what Apollo looked like. Kara explains that Apollo kids tended to be naturally gifted with the bow and arrow, since their dad had the infamous bow which always hit its target, the bow which hit Achilles right on his heel, Apollo’s kids had the same natural gift of their father, though not all. Kara got a smile of amusement at that, probably thinking about a memory of when that had not been true. Kara made a promise to help Lena find her weapon, every half blood had one apparently, Lena just had to find what best suited her hand or hands. 

 

Their last stop was the cabins. It would be impossible for Lena to explain all of the cabins, there were so many, Kara explained that originally there had only been 12, for the 12 Olympians, but they had built more cabins for the minor gods, which you could tell apart because they were smaller and slightly more modest, the two biggest cabins were at the top of the space, like two huge white marble museums, or banks, the biggest of the two had a large number 1, the bronze doors shined brightly, even in the evening sun, and Lena could make out the image of two lightning strikes on the doors, obviously that cabin belonged to Zeus. The one beside it had the number two above it, it was slightly more modest than Zeus’ cabin with slimmer columns and was smaller, Lena instantly knew that was Hera’s cabin. 

 

“Does anyone stay there?” Lena asks, looking at Kara who was already shaking her head. 

 

“Zeus is the only one who goes running around having affairs, usually Hera is the one exacting revenge on those people.” 

 

Lena remembers the story of Dionysus, a God now but his mother, Semele, had been vapourised by Zeus through the trickery of Hera and Zeus had been forced to snatch the unborn baby from his mother’s womb and stick him in his thigh to allow him some more time to cook. Lena shivers. Hera was a force to be reckoned with, sure, Disney’s Hercules made Hades look like the bad guy, but if you knew your mythology, you’d know that that wasn’t true, but Hercules did kind of snatch Cerberus, Hades’ most favoured pet, Lena couldn’t imagine that pleased the God. She wasn’t defensive of her father… okay, maybe she was a little, but Hades got a bad rep, and all because he was the God of the Underworld, as though that inherently made him bad, it wasn’t like his brothers forced him into a bad deal or anything, Lena couldn’t get into  _ that  _ right now. 

 

The Cabins were postponed in a rectangle kind of formation, with Zeus and Hera’s cabins being the top and the rest of the cabins making up the length, nothing was opposite cabins one and two, just the bottom end of the rectangle where campers came and went. 

 

The next cabin that caught Lena’s attention was number 3, it was grey but had seashells stuck all along the bottom, it looked kind of like a chunk had been taken out of the cliff edge that bordered the sea. Above the number three was a blue trident, the cabin was actually one of the most appealing in Lena’s opinion and even from this position she could smell a waft of sea air which reminded her of the beach. 

 

The next cabin which drew Lena’s attention was cabin five, and that was only because she could hear the blasting of rock music, above the door hung an ugly boar which seemed to be staring at Lena with its blood red eyes, like it might come alive at any minute and charge her, the paint job of the cabin was awful, she’d fire whoever painted  _ that _ , it was covered in red paint but it was patchy in most if not all places and barbed wire was all around the roof. The kids hanging out in front of it were also one of the meanest looking kids around, they’re basically what every bully in the movies or TV shows looks like, ever, big, grizzly teens looking like they eat nerds for breakfast and shove them in lockers for later. Lena hated bullies, she had zero tolerance for it, she imagined if there was any God she had a distaste for, or any children of a God, it would be Ares, though she refrained from judging them too hard, they may look mean but who’s to say they actually are. 

 

Kara points to another cabin now, a bright golden one that was either reflecting the sun or emitting it’s own light, though Lena suspected that it wasn’t at its full potential, and seemed to be getting dimmer as the light of the day faded more. “Cabin seven, Apollo,” Kara says with pride. “it’s pretty modest inside, we have some plants, most are medicinal, we have some scrolls, to which our father gave to us, there’s a bed in the middle for injured people and the rest are our own bunks.” Lena kind of wanted to peer inside but she wasn’t even sure she could. What if she took a step in and Apollo, from his mighty throne in Olympus, decided ‘how dare you defile the Cabin of  _ Me’  _ and shot her down where she stood. 

 

That wouldn’t be good. 

 

“Artemis’ is right across from us, you should see that cabin at night.” Lena could only imagine. Considering the Apollo cabin shined in the sun, since he was the Sun God, Lena wondered what Artemis’ looked like at night, since she was the Moon Goddess. “The one next to the Artemis cabin, and diagonal to us, is the Athena cabin.” Kara explains. The cabin was probably the most modest looking one, from the outside it didn’t look like much, it was just a grey cabin with an owl above the door and the number 6 but Lena had a suspicion that it held more than what it was showing, Athena being the Goddess of Wisdom and Battle Strategy and all. “That’s where you’ll find Alex.” Alex, Daughter of Athena. For some reason, that just made perfect sense to her. She wonders who Sam’s god parent is for a moment but doesn’t ask. 

 

“Where is Hades’?” Lena questions. Kara turns towards an obsidian black cabin. Not just obsidian black but it was made of actual obsidian, there didn’t appear to be any windows, so Lena could only guess inside it was pitch black, above the door was a skull, real or fake it sent a shiver down Lena’s spine, there were columns along the front, despite it being the third cabin, and technically part of the minor Gods extension, the cabin was bigger than those of the minor Gods and closer to the size of Poseidon, Lena figured that the campers didn’t exactly want to insult Hades by giving him a cabin the size of the minor Gods because, despite him not being an Olympian, Hades was one of the most powerful Gods, plus who knows what punishment he could give you when you died for such an insult. Still, on the columns were torches, which burnt the same bright bluey green of the flames that Lena had seen in her dreams, she felt a little uneasy being reminded of the dream. 

 

“Unless,” Kara interrupts Lena’s internal battle. “you haven’t officially been claimed by Hades so you could stay at the Hermes cabin, that’s where unclaimed kids stay until they’ve been claimed?” Lena was surprised by the suggestion, but then she realised that Kara must have seen her uneasiness and thought that she didn’t feel comfortable sleeping in her father’s cabin. They both knew Hades kind of had claimed her, considering Buddy, or Cerberus, had escorted her all the way here, known to be fiercely loyal to Hades, and Lena had cracked open the earth, all the way to the center, no other demigod, but a child of Hades, had that power, Lena just knew. Still, Lena’s heart warmed a little at the blonde’s concern of making her feel welcome, besides, Lena had seen what cabin eleven considered to be ‘fun’ she didn’t exactly want to try her hand at pickpocketing. 

 

Lena didn’t get the chance to reply to that when the sound of some kind of horn filled the air. Kara immediately lit up, and Lena means that literally, kind of, Kara was a little like cabin seven, Lena wasn’t sure if she was emitting light literally or if she just seemed to be a bright and sunny person. “Last stop,” Kara says taking Lena’s hand, Lena didn’t even yelp this time, in fact the warmth of Kara was comforting and oddly familiar. “Dining pavilion!” Lena chuckles watching Kara’s pace increase, the girl must love her food. 

 

Lena wondered how it was she felt so comfortable around the blonde already, in the past Lena had always had elegance in dealing with her mother’s business partners but beyond that, she didn't really have experience socialising, or having friends for that matter, what with her brother having a very public downfall, marring the Luthor name permanently, she’d also been homeschooled, in fact, she hadn’t left her house that often except for when she left to go to college. So Lena didn’t really know how to have friends, but Kara’s presence was… hard to explain, it was kind of like a warm embrace, constantly, she felt like a summer’s day and she was cute, okay, Lena was not going to go there but she at least hoped Kara was her friend. 

 

How does one know if they have made a friend? 

 

They arrive in what Kara had called the ‘Dining Pavilion’ and Lena has to catch her breath. It was beautiful, like the ancient version of what people would now call the food court, there were different tables, which were like picnic tables, thrown over the top of each was a white cloth with purple borders, there were tons of campers milling around, laughing, eating, some seemed to notice Lena, others were too focused on their food. In the centre of the open building was a fireplace the size of a bathtub, the floor was made of marble, but so was the entire building, it had an open roof, which Lena would have been concerned about the weather if she didn’t already know that the camp had its own perfect climate, and all around were columns of white. 

 

Lena wasn’t even sure it classed as a building, it had no roof, or walls and was basically just a marble floor with marble columns connected at the top by more white marble but still, it was on a hill and huge, clearly a centre to the camp. “Technically,” Kara interrupts Lena’s observing. “every cabin has their own table, and you’re not supposed to sit at others, but I’m your doctor so I say it’s okay if you sit at my table for this time.” Lena follows Kara around the dining pavilion, selecting the food she wanted to eat, smelling it all laid out on the table made her realize just how hungry she was, in fact, she couldn’t even remember when she’d had a proper meal. 

 

She noticed that campers were going to the fire in the centre and pouring some of their food into it, the best stuff too, the juiciest piece of meat, the fluffiest roll and they were speaking. Lena walks towards the fire, following Kara’s lead, who drops almost an entire bunch of grapes into the fire, Lena didn't have time to comment how wasteful that seemed when the fire seemed to get hotter and brighter as Kara made what Lena assumed a silent prayer to her father. 

 

Kara gestures for Lena to go ahead. “The Gods take this stuff seriously,” Kara warns. “to eat  _ here  _ without first sacrificing…” Kara trails off and Lena gets the idea that that would not be a wise decision. She did feel a little resentful, Hades cabin was number 13, he hadn’t been honoured here until recently, was hated by the Gods, yet  _ she  _ was expected to just- that was dangerous thinking and she knew it. 

 

Instead, Lena picked up the pomegranate fruit, she remembered the story of Persephone, and how she’d eaten eight seeds in the Underworld and been forced to remain, she wondered if Hades shared the same taste for the fruit.  She tosses it into the fire. asking silently if that was good enough, to Lena’s utter surprise, as soon as the fruit hit the flames, it turned to a purple smoke and smelt good, not at all how you'd expect burnt pomegranate fruit to smell, like kind of like a sweet smelling perfume, she hoped that meant her dad and her step-mom (she guesses) liked the offering. 

 

After that, Lena joined Kara at the Apollo table who gave her friendly smiles and welcomes. She got the sense the Apollo kids were all nice, even if they looked like a bunch of jocks. “Just say whatever you want to drink to the goblet and it’ll fill,” Kara says round a mouthful of potstickers, Lena wasn’t even sure when she’d started eating, or how she had that much in her mouth already. “non-alcoholic of course.” Lena tried not to be disappointed at that, she could really go for a glass of wine, she settles for a glass of water instead. Sure enough, the goblet filled with the water instantly. 

 

Lena settles in, listening to the lively chatter of the Apollo kids who were talking about Kara’s latest archery run, from what Lena could tell, Kara was their reigning champion. “Probably that bow you have.” One of them comments though Lena does detect the slightest hint of jealousy in their tone. Lena looks at Kara curiously who seems to get all flustered again. 

 

“Oh, uh, my dad gave me a bow, it’s kind of like his.” 

 

“It always hits it mark?” Lena asks. “Isn’t that kind of cheating?” Kara seemed a little offended by that question. 

 

“The bow is only as good as the person who wields it,” She says, pushing her glasses up her nose like she was getting serious. “just like a sword, it's not like I can just fire it randomly and tell the arrow where to go, it just... it’s more sturdier than most bows, so it has wicked balance, and it has the best aiming, and and its enchanted so that it doesn't break, you have no idea how many bows I broke before that one,” Kara was rambling but Lena found it kind of adorable. She was clearly talking about something she was passionate about, Lena could believe that, with or without that particular bow, Kara was a gifted archer. “besides, all quivers are enchanted in case you hang upside down and drop all the arrows out, it happens more than you’d think, and the arrows never run out, that would be a serious issue in battle.” 

 

“When Kara first came to camp, everyone thought she was a daughter of Zeus,” One of Kara’s siblings say to Lena and Lena looks at her with surprise, Kara simply blushes. “She’s one of the most powerful Apollo kids in centuries, it's like she got all of dad’s genes, I swear, she’s amazing on the lyre, and singing, her archery? Out of this God damned world, plus, she has the ability to heal others, no ambrosia or nectar needed, not to mention her ability to channel the sun’s power.” Lena raises a perfectly sculpted brow at the blonde across from her who had a sudden interest in her feet. 

 

“It’s probably why she’s dad’s favourite.” 

 

“That’s not true.” Kara protests. 

 

“So you can’t do all that stuff?” Lena questions. 

 

“Well… yeah.” Kara mumbles.

 

Once food was eaten, Lena was welcomed to the camp formally by Dionysus himself, who seemed to have a general distaste for all the demigods, so she didn’t take it too personal when he got her name wrong. The activities director, Lena recalled Kara had called him J’onn, announced their monthly capture the flag game would be going ahead as scheduled on Friday - the campers seemed buzzed by that fact. 

 

Once everyone had full stomachs, Lena was told that there was a bonfire, she and Kara reunited with Sam and Alex on the way down and Lena really was surprised at how easy she felt the atmosphere was. That was, until a short brunette boy came over and joined them. “I have a theory,” He says, interrupting something Alex was saying. Kara lets out an exasperated moan as well as Sam and Alex. “I think you should hear me out on this.” He insists. 

 

“Winn,” Kara says, rolling her eyes, but her smile told Lena she felt affection for the boy. “you’re constantly thinking up conspiracy theories, the other day you said the reason that there was no bread at breakfast was because Demeter had given up on wheat and not because you were just late.” 

 

“That’s still not unproven,” He replies and Lena lets out a small chuckle. “but listen, this will blow your mind- Oh.” Winn says, like he had just noticed Lena. “Hi, I’m Winn, Winn Schott, son of Hephaestus you know, god of crafts, excetera, excetera.” He does a little bow. 

 

“Lena Luthor.” Lena replies. Everyone freezes. Lena realises she’d never said her last name yet. 

 

“Luthor-?” Winn seemed like he was going to say something but Kara elbows him in the ribs and he shuts up right away, letting out an exaggerated  _ ‘ow’ _ . An awkward silence passes before Winn starts up again about his theory. “So, y’know how spring is super late this year?” He asks. “What if there’s trouble in the Underworld? Like Persephone is staying there to sort it out and Demeter, who is responsible for winter and stuff, is holding off spring until her daughter comes back?” Winn smiled, like he was proud of himself, Alex seemed a little troubled herself by this fact. She didn’t outright agree with Winn but Lena could practically see the cogs in her brain churning with ideas - daughter of Athena all right. 

 

No one else seemed to have this concern though, Kara even shoved Winn playfully, who laughed, but it seemed to Lena that that fact did warrant a little more attention. If all the Greek stories were true then, it  _ was  _ Demeter who caused winter from her grief of being separated from her daughter Persephone for 4 months of the year, the fact that winter wasn’t occurring until  _ later  _ should really be a warning sign. Plus Lena couldn’t shake her dream, the black flower throne, could that have been Persephone? Lena connects eyes with Alex’s, which were stormy with thought, they seemed to be examining Lena, as though she may have some answers, she didn’t. 

 

Lena puts aside her unease and settles in for the bonfire, it was exactly what you’d imagine a camp to be about, marshmallows over the fire and singing. Kara even lead a song which Lena almost passed out at, the woman was amazingly talented, her voice could lull Lena to sleep and the campers seemed to really enjoy it too since the fire, which reacted to their emotions, burnt bright and hot and higher than Lena thought a fire could burn. Halfway through a boy joined their small group, he was by far one of the brightest dressed in all of camp, he wore a tie dyed t-shirt, rather than the standard orange, Kara had explained that the boy was called James Olsen and he was the son of the Goddess Iris, the rainbow Goddess who also sent messages for the Gods, which was really ironic Lena thought because rainbows were gay and James and Winn were clearly gaying it up themselves. 

 

Lena also noticed Sam and Alex sitting next to each other on the ground, Alex had her arms outstretched behind her, and she was leaning back, and Sam was snuggled close to her side, close enough that you’d raise an eyebrow, but also sitting far enough away, or in a way, that you’d think they were maybe best friends, but Lena knew that that wasn’t true, her gaydar, for the most part, was spot on. Like Kara for example, definitely gay, but the girl seemed oblivious to Lena’s interest, not that she could really blame Kara, like Lena said, her social skills left much to be desired, she wasn’t even sure how to let Kara know she was interested. Dating was too complicated for her to even think about, especially after just finding out she’s the daughter of an actual God, maybe it was a good thing Kara couldn’t tell Lena was totally crushing on her. 

 

After the bonfire the campers all retired to their cabins. Kara left Lena standing on the steps of the Hades cabin, Lena wasn’t sure but she thought that she could see some hesitance in Kara’s step before she gave a smile goodnight and headed towards cabin seven. That’s when Lena noticed the Artemis cabin which was glowing a soft silver in the night. In a way, she was comforted by the light, it wasn’t blinding like the Apollo cabin but was much more easy on the eyes. Artemis and Apollo were twins, and yet they were probably so different from one another, not that Lena knew them personally. 

 

She enters her cabin feeling well and truly exhausted, she’d had a long day, she’d awoken in an infirmary after fighting a cyclops, found out her dad was the God of the Underworld, she was a demigod, which meant that if she stepped foot outside of camp she’d probably get swarmed by monsters that wanted to see her dead, she’d walked the entire camp, had to socialise and try to contain her gay around probably the most handsome butch Lena had ever seen. 

 

Lena wanted sleep, she  _ needed  _ sleep. 

 

She had only a moment to observe the Hades’ cabin interior, it was hideous, absolutely awful, the beds were like coffins and the entire interior was black and red, it was like someone had seen Dracula once and decided that the children of Hades were all vampires, which, Lena had to admit, she was as pale and cold as one but she’d much rather be back at her own home in her king sized bed rather than squeeze herself into a coffin style one. But, to be perfectly honest, she was too exhausted to care. She did hesitate when her head hit the pillow, she wanted to fall asleep but she didn’t want to face anymore creepy dreams. Eventually, she drifted off, her exhaustion winning out over her weariness. 

 

**_//_ **

 

Lena was back in the black endless void, except, she can feel it shifting and shaping around her, she’s not floating this time but walking in darkness and as she walks, she gives shape. She can hear the gentle cry of an animal, a soft whimper in the night, echoing in the void, left unheard. Lena focuses on that sound trying to pinpoint its location. 

 

Then, she’s in the woods, it’s night, but at least it’s not raining horribly, just across from her she sees a huge black mound on the ground wrapped around a tree with… three heads. Buddy! He’s sound asleep and crying, like some dogs do when they’re having a dream, his big meaty paws twitching as though he was running, Lena had never had her own dog but she’d seen dogs do this before, she found it incredible that the hound that guards the Underworld could be such an adorable creature, basically a dog, just bigger, much bigger, and with three heads. 

 

Lena walks towards him, to wake him from his dream, but as soon as she takes a single step she hears a crack. Looking down, Lena is horrified at what she sees, the ground is crumbling open right below her feet, and before she can yell for help, or jump out of the way, she’s falling right through the ground. She can hear the scream of the Cyclops, the one who she’d sent straight down like this, which the ground had swallowed, and Lena looked up in horror to see the hole in the Earth was closing and she was falling to her doom, just falling, and falling, and falling. 

 

She knew this wasn’t possible, she couldn’t be falling through the earth, but, then again, she’d done it to the cyclops, and then she hits something wooden and feels the thing bounce a couple of times. She blinks open her eyes, unaware that she had screwed then shut while falling, to see the roof of what looked like a cavern, jagged black rocks hung above her and she could hear the trickle of… water. 

 

Lena sits up, she knew logically she probably should have died if she had fallen through the  _ literal  _ earth and then hit something solid but she was bobbing harmlessly along on a river. It took her a moment to regain herself after that realisation, when she hears a gentle hum and she freezes. Slowly, she glances behind her, to see what the source of the noise was, when she sees who it is she startles, jumping to her feet and rocking the boat. “Be still,” He hisses in annoyance. “stupid spirits.” Lena frowns, she was about to say she wasn’t a ‘spirit’ when, suddenly, she’s surrounded by them, they fill the boat to the brim, all of them looking around in either awe, or some in nervousness, some just downright looked confused. 

 

Was Lena dead? Did she die in her sleep somehow? Maybe her coffin bed had closed on her and she’d suffocated to death... but no, none of the spirits were paying her any mind or the ferryman who was gently sailing along the river. 

 

The spirits were hard to look at but Lena could see their expression so long as she focused. Some seemed too young to be on the boat which filled her with grief, even though she didn’t know them personally. The ferryman looked like the grim reaper, except, not exactly, he had a long black cloak that seemed to be at least partly made of mist, which gave the guy a ghoulish ghostly vibe, but most disturbing was his face, it was black, Lena couldn’t see any of the man’s features, except he had two glowing eyes which were like the headlights of a car inside a very dark tunnel, Lena wasn’t even sure the guy could see, he had his bony fingers wrapped around his paddle and he sailed the boat easily though Lena couldn’t imagine spirits weighed a whole lot. Lena tries to recall the name of the person who ferried the dead souls across the river to the Underworld. 

 

_ It was Ch-Something? Ch.. Ch.. Chiron? No, Charon! _

 

The river they were sailing down looked pitch black, like they were sailing on a river of black oil, Lena didn’t even want a drip of that water to land on her, even the sight of it sent a chill down her spine. Even without ever being to the Underworld Lena knew exactly what the river was: the River Styx. People made promises on it, or hopes and dreams, and judging by the pollution that swirled in its oily waves, those dreams and promises so often didn’t get fulfilled. Achilles was dipped in  _ that  _ as a baby?  It was sad really, so often what people want in life they never achieve and it comes to die in the black waves of the River Styx. She wonders if any of her dreams she’d had once upon a time - which had often been crushed by her step-mother - were swirling around below the deck of the boat but that was depressing enough without her knowing if it were true. 

 

The boat lurches to a stop and the spirits, who had previously been moving lazily around, suddenly move as though they had been shot with a bolt of lightning. They scramble off of the boat which Charon tuts at. Lena quickly follows the souls before Charon whisked her away back up the River. 

 

The Underworld was everything you’d imagine it would be, and also not, it was dark and huge and overwhelming, and there was a feeling of dread in Lena’s gut, but it was also bright with the greeny blue fire, sure, the far away screams of torture wasn’t too pleasant but it had a certain charm Lena thought, or maybe that was just because her father ruled it. The black sandy shores and jagged black rocks really set its aesthetic though. She follows the spirits to where there were three doorways but there seemed to be a huge gap in the middle, spirits moved however they pleased, there was no order, just spirits in a frenzy. Lena slips past them easily, she has to remind herself that she’s not really here, she can’t be, unless she’s dead and that’s… an unsettling thought. 

 

Lena stumbles a little and looks down at the ground to see a huge paw print, in fact, there was a dint in the ground, like a huge animal on hind legs had been sitting there for centuries, this, this was where Cerberus guarded the Underworld, he prevented the disorder and prevented their escape, with Cerberus top side the entrance to the Underworld was insane. Why would Hades send Cerberus without a replacement in mind? 

 

Lena steps past the three headed dog’s lair and moves on, entering an endless field of wheat which spirits just stood about, like a huge cloud gazing club had gotten together. Lena instantly knew that it was the Fields of Asphodel. Except, something wasn’t right, the spirits they just roamed wherever they pleased, Lena even noticed some floating towards the most beautiful part of the Underworld: Elysium, the place was like a picture perfect holiday resort, something you only see in pictures, and it was overcrowded too. Lena didn’t know too much but what she did know, as sad as it may be, was that not that many people did good in their lives.    
  
There was total disorder in the Underworld, overcrowding and lack of control of the dead. 

 

Lena was sure the spirits were supposed to be judged if they did not go to the fields of Asphodel, hell, sometimes Hades even gave special treatment to the spirits who had been exceptionally bad over the judges but it was like they didn’t exist, or maybe they’d lost control? Too much dead? No Cerberus to keep them in check upon entering? Lena knew thousands of people died a day, which was a lot of people to judge, and without proper control… it was an utter disaster. 

 

Then Lena heard whispers in her ears, as though the spirits around her were speaking to her, but they didn’t appear to be doing so. That’s when she notices something strange, or something stranger then the dead walking aimlessly around her, the spirits in the field were avoiding something with unease. As Lena got closer, the thinner the amount of spirits she had to push through. Embedded in the ground in the middle of the Fields of Asphodel was a nightmare black sword, it seemed to have a faint purple glow and called to Lena like something she had never experienced before. 

 

She approaches the sword with caution and realises it is the blade which was whispering to her. As soon as her hand wraps around the hilt of the blade Lena feels a calm wash over her, the whispering halts, her senses seem to regain control and she releases a sigh as she pulls the blade from the dry land. This sword was made for her, made for her power, she can already feel it channeling through her into the blade, giving her undue focus and then, “What’s that?” Lena jumps at the sudden coherence of a spirit that passed nearby. “I sense him.” The voice was a ghostly whisper, kind of like a voice that was tickling the back of her mind and echoing through the sword. 

  
  


The spirits around her start compacting, Lena can now understand what they’re saying so clearly, she holds the blade up and yells “ _ No! _ ” Her voice shakes, and so does her hand, she is not dead and the dead will not have her. “ _ Stay back! _ ” She demands. To her utter surprise, the spirits obey, they circle her at a distance but do not approach. 

 

“Who is that?” They question. 

 

“Has the Death Lord returned?” 

 

“Shut up! I’m trying to listen!” Another chastises and Lena realises that they can’t see her, can’t see her sword, or anything, they can just feel her presence and, apparently, it feels similar to Hades. She had read theories about dreams before, she had thought them too far fetched to be real but, considering where she was right now, demigod and all, maybe they weren’t as far fetched as she had originally thought. Many believed that dreams took you to a world in between, where you could imagine anything and achieve it easily, or go anywhere you pleased, some even claimed of having dreams of dead loved ones after their death and maybe they were right. Somehow Lena had travelled to the Underworld in her dreams but she didn’t... she didn’t feel in control. 

 

_ “Fulfil your destiny.” _

 

A voice booms, the ground shakes so hard Lena worries it’s going to open up again and swallow her into Tartarus, the spirits around her go insane, Lena drops her blade, she hears a terrible screech cut through the rumbling, she looks up to see dark wings and something heading towards her with speed, just as she thinks she’s about to be wiped out by the creature she jumps awake panting. 

 

She was sweating, absolutely dripping, it looked like she had wet the bed, which would have been embarrassing but something else stared at her across the cabin, distracting her, and she looked at it completely dumbfounded. Sitting, embedded in the wood of the desk that sat across from her, was the black blade that glowed a dark purple, the whispering tickled her thoughts, it called for her to come claim what was hers but Lena really didn’t want to, she was freaked, instead, she jumps out of that coffin bed, covers the blade in her discarded sheet, goes to a different bed, the  _ furthest  _ from the sword, and presses a pillow over her ears. 

 

She certainly wasn't going to be falling asleep any time soon. 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes! Leave a comment telling me what you think? Also my Tumblr is: Super-Barry-Allen so come along and yell at me there!


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